Sennheiser's HD 630VB headphones have one of our favorite features that most competing pairs lack: adjustable bass response. Add to this a solid, comfortable build and fit, and a unique design with controls on the earcups rather than an inline remote. But the star of the show is the adjustable bass dial, which can tune the sound signature exactly to your liking. Somewhere in the middle, the headphones sounds accurate, and bass lovers will enjoy being able to push the lows forward in the mix without sacrificing clarity and balance. At $499.95, however, the price is quite high despite the strong, customizable audio experience.

Design

The enclosed, circumaural (over-the-ear) design of the HD 630VB is chunky and sturdy like most audiophile-geared headphones. Some will find the size to be a little too obtrusive to take on the go, but if the bulky fit doesn't bother you, the faux leather earpads are exceptionally comfortable, even over long listening sessions, and the earcups don't leak much audio. Inside each earcup, dynamic drivers deliver a frequency response that Sennheiser claims is from 10Hz-42kHz—quite a range on both ends, making the headphones ideal for listening to high-resolution files.

The cable (which, unfortunately, is not detachable) features a chin-level microphone, while the controls that are usually found on an inline remote control pod are actually located on the outer panel of the right ear. Here, a central button operates playback, call management, and track navigation (depending on how many times you tap it), while up and down arrows handle volume—the levels work in conjunction with your mobile device's master volume levels.

Of course, these controls are only part of the story, as Sennheiser allows you to adjust bass levels, as well. A rotating dial that frames the control pad on the right earcup boosts or cuts bass response, with a detailed visual marker so you can dial in the exact amount you want, and remember that setting for the future. The dial boosts or cuts the bass by a range of 5 decibels around 50Hz. One minor complaint about the dial—it would be nice if it had a detent point in the middle setting, so you can always adjust from the same place without needing the check where the dial is.

The right earcup also houses a switch labeled 'i/G'—the "i" setting is for use with Apple iOS devices, and the "G" is intended for all other mobile devices. We've encountered very few unpowered headphones that have onboard controls, and even fewer headphones that offer a switch to better suit your phone's operating system. They ship with a hard shell zip-up case that the headphones collapse down into and a 0.25-inch headphone jack adapter.

The mic offers strong intelligibility—using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we were able to understand every word, with ideal clarity in the high-mids.

Performance

With the bass level dial set at its minimum level, the headphones deliver very accurate, near flat response-style bass. This doesn't mean the lows are inexistent, but they are quite dialed back compared with modern sound signatures. Go all the way to max, and the bass is plentiful and huge—it's a very boosted, heavy sound, but things never quite get to the point of completely overwhelming the entire mix, even on a track with intense sub-bass, like The Knife's "Silent Shout."

With the bass levels set at the mid point, you get a balanced sound signature with natural sub-bass presence. On tracks with booming deep bass like "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver something pretty close to what we might guess to be the mix engineer's intentions. But truth be told, adjusting halfway between the midpoint and the maximum bass setting sounds pretty great, too—partially because the mids and highs never seem to suffer despite the boosting.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better idea of the HD 630VB's general sound signature. This track's drums can sound overly thunderous and unnatural on heavily bass-boosted headphones, or thin and inconsequential on pairs that lack bass depth. At the middle bass level here, the headphones deliver subtle bass response on the drums and Callahan's baritone vocals. The high-mids and highs feel a little more prominent on the track at this setting. But if you dial up the bass to max, things sound ridiculously heavy—the drums are thunderous, and Callahan's vocals are ridiculously booming. The minimum bass setting gives you a flat, almost clinical-sounding frequency response—the drums reduced to subtle tapping and Callahan's vocals thinning out somewhat. At roughly 75 percent on the bass dial, we find something like a sweet spot. The vocals get a lovely low-mid richness without ever sounding muddy, and the drums are imbued with some extra body without sounding ridiculously heavy. The guitar strums and higher register percussive hits have excellent clarity and brightness to them.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets ideal high-mid presence, highlighting its attack and giving it the edge to slice through the layers of the track. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with serious power with the bass at maximum volume, and strong presence when it's set to the midpoint. The vocals on this track are delivered cleanly and crisply, with no added sibilance or harshness. Again, with the bass levels somewhere around 75 percent, the headphones can sound pretty magical—the lows are powerful but not overwhelming, and the highs have excellent definition, bringing out details like the vinyl crackle in the background without pushing them too far forward in the mix.

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the lower register instrumentation can sound flat when the bass levels are dialed back all the way, or a little too thick and boosted at maximum settings. Purists looking for an accurate response will prefer the dial close to the halfway point, but many listeners will enjoy a little added bass response to bring out some of the presence of the lower strings and deeper bass sounds when they occur. The higher register brass, strings, and vocals own the spotlight, however, and are always crisp and front-and-center regardless of the bass settings on this track.

Conclusions

The HD 630VB aren't the first headphones we've tested with the ability to adjust bass levels—the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro and Skullcandy Crusher are both more affordable options with the same basic premise, but not quite the same degree of audio performance or ability to dial in the exact preferred bass level. If you don't need the adjustable bass and just want excellent-sounding headphones in this price range, the Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series 2 are excellent, while we also love the Sennheiser HD6 Mix, which cost far less.

If we have any complaints about the HD 630VB, it's that the price seems a tad high. These are excellent headphones, but we can imagine them selling for more like $350-400. That said, it's doubtful anyone seeking adjustable bass response will be disappointed with the Sennheiser HD 630VB's versatile sound signature and exceedingly comfortable fit.

Sennheiser HD 630VB

Sennheiser HD 630VB

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.